Zinger Key Points
- Intuitive Machines' moon lander Odysseus maintains communication despite mishap near Moon's south pole, shares plummet.
- Odysseus successfully lands near Malapert A, sending images from lunar surface, despite potential leg damage.
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Intuitive Machines, Inc. LUNR shares are trading lower on Tuesday.
Yesterday, the company released a statement saying its moon lander Odysseus continues to communicate with flight controllers in Nova Control from the lunar surface.
However, considering the Earth and Moon positioning, communication with Odysseus is anticipated to persist until Tuesday morning.
After understanding the end-to-end communication requirements, Odysseus sent images from the lunar surface of its vertical descent to its Malapert A landing site, representing the furthest south any vehicle has been able to land on the Moon and establish communication with ground controllers.
NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera team verified that Odysseus successfully landed at coordinates 80.13°S and 1.44°E, with an elevation of 2,579 m.
After a journey exceeding 600,000 miles, Odysseus touched down within 1.5 km of its target, Malapert A, utilizing a makeshift laser range-finding system implemented mere hours before landing.
Last Friday, the company said that Odysseus, encountered a mishap during a touchdown near the moon’s south pole.
Initially presumed upright, the six-footed craft tipped over, possibly due to excessive speed, causing communication challenges.
Shares of Intuitive Machines, which gained 260% in the last month, started plummeting after hours Friday, as soon as the news broke.
CEO Steve Altemus stated that the lander “caught a foot in the surface” and may have snapped a leg, potentially leaning against a rock.
“There were certainly things we could’ve done to test it and actually fire it. They would’ve been very time-consuming and very costly,” Mike Hansen, the company’s head of navigation systems, told Reuters in an interview on Saturday. “So that was a risk as a company that we acknowledged and took that risk.”
Read Next: Intuitive Machines Lunar Lander Mishap Sparks Crisis: Odysseus Tips Over Near Moon’s South Pole
Price Action: LUNR shares are trading lower by 15.9% to $5.27 on the last check Tuesday.
Photo: Courtesy of Intuitive Machines
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